[NYguy]

^ That was never proposed to be 1,000 ft tall, just some misinformation at the time.

Still, here's a look at some of the developments we've seen over the past couple of years.


http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/09/re...9cov.html?_r=2
Suddenly, a Brooklyn Skyline


Brooklyn’s new towers include, from left, Oro, Avalon Fort Greene, Toren and DKLB BKYN



Oro, which is doing its bit to change the profile of Brooklyn, has views of a more famous skyline.



38 STORIES Toren



40 STORIES oro




By JAKE MOONEY
January 7, 2011

THE view north across the East River from a high floor at Oro, a new 40-story condominium tower at 306 Gold Street in Downtown Brooklyn, is eye-popping, a panorama of clouds, bridges, water and skyscrapers in Manhattan. But gazing to the south and west from the same perch reveals a more traditional Brooklyn landscape: here a cluster of bank offices, there a line of cars at a Flatbush Avenue traffic light, set against a distant backdrop of low-rises and brownstones.

Oro is part of a recent wave of downtown development, much of it residential, that looks to high-rise Manhattan rather than brownstone Brooklyn as a model. It is changing the borough’s face and bringing thousands of new residents to a once mostly commercial area.

In addition to Oro, which started selling in 2007, at least half a dozen high-rises have recently opened or broken ground downtown, a sprawling area broadly defined by Cadman Plaza on the west, Atlantic Avenue to the south, Flatbush Avenue and Fort Greene to the east and the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway to the north. They are drawing Manhattanites lured by low rents as well as locals who want modern amenities and a change from brownstones and low-rises.

The Brooklyner, a 51-story fully occupied rental building at 111 Lawrence Street, is now the tallest building in the borough. On or just off nearby Flatbush Avenue are: Avalon Fort Greene, a 650-unit, 42-story behemoth whose rents range from $2,132, for a studio, to $4,241 for a three-bedroom penthouse; DKLB BKLN, a 36-story rental building at 80 DeKalb Avenue; and Toren, a 38-story glass tower at 150 Myrtle Avenue, where a one-bedroom is available for $475,000 and two-bedrooms can be found from $695,000 to $1.2 million. And all around the neighborhood, recent additions that languished half empty as recently as last year are steadily filling up.

Even Flatbush Avenue itself, at its worst a river of traffic flowing onto and off of the Manhattan Bridge, is looking better: Freshly planted islands in its median were part of $100 million in city-financed streetscape improvements.

...There is even talk of new buildings: In December, plans became public for a 234-unit, 49-story tower on Bridge Street, and a 327-unit, 42-story building by the Dermot Company broke ground last month at 29 Flatbush Avenue. Both are to be rentals, and combined, they will receive nearly $200 million in state money in exchange for including affordable-housing components.

So much residential growth is occurring, in fact, that some people in the neighborhood worry it may be too much. Robert Perris, the district manager of Community Board 2, which represents the area, said the benefits of residences along Flatbush Avenue were clear. But, he added, so are the benefits of a strong commercial district — and strengthening the commercial district was one of the chief goals of the rezoning. When residential buildings are erected in commercial zones, he said, their lots are lost for commercial purposes.

“There are only so many development sites,” Mr. Perris said. “If these sites get developed for residential, they’re gone forever.”

Mr. Chan urged patience about the arrival of nonresidential development.

30 STORIES 230 Ashland Place



51 STORIES The Brooklyner